


No one could take this away from him

by little_dumpling



Series: Soulmarks and Scars [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Betaed, Gift Fic, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Losing a Soulmate, M/M, Platonic Soulmates, Possessive Behavior, Rare Pairings, Romantic Soulmates, Soul Bond, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:54:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29475810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_dumpling/pseuds/little_dumpling
Summary: Maul did not have a soulmate. He had nothing and no one. No one could wanthim, so he wouldwantno one.Rex did not know about soulmates. When he found out about them he wondered whyanyonewould want one. General Kenobi had had a soulmate and all they had ever done was give him pain. Ahsoka had a soulmate and she hurt her too.Rex didnotwant a soulmate.This is Maul and Rex's soulmate story.
Relationships: Barriss Offee/Ahsoka Tano, Darth Maul/CT-7567 | Rex, Qui-Gon Jinn/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Series: Soulmarks and Scars [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2198841
Comments: 10
Kudos: 43
Collections: Star Wars Valentine's Exchange 2021





	No one could take this away from him

**Author's Note:**

  * For [svartalfheimr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/svartalfheimr/gifts).



> Warnings: references to attempted suicide/self-harm, references to canonical past abuse, angst, happy ending for some.
> 
> **Special thanks to Hawk (LilHawkeye3) for the beta!!**
> 
> A/N: This pairing isn't something I'd ever considered before, so I hope I've done it justice. I almost always write Obi-Wan fic bc I know his voice, I can feel him when I write so easily, but Maul... this was a challenge. No idea if I got it right, so hopefully it's enjoyable anyways @svartalfheimr! :) Happy late Valentine's day!

* * *

For most of his life, he thought there was no one out there, just for him.

 _Everyone_ had a soulmate they said.

But who would want someone like him anyways? Abused, neglected, _corrupted_.

He wasn't stupid. He knew that he was the bad guy that Jedi guardians told their little younglings about. The bump in the night that took and tore and shattered whatever hope they had, whatever ideal they held, whatever people they loved.

Just look at Kenobi. He'd taken away Kenobi's soulmate with just one thrust of his blade. And he hadn’t even felt bad about it. Instead, he _revelled_ in the pain he caused that perfect Jedi, that pure soul, that righteous shithead.

Maul hated him.

Maul might have taken Kenobi's soulmate, but at least Kenobi had _had_ a soulmate. Maul had nothing and no one.

Especially now.

But now he had Mandalore, and he wasn't going to give it up for anything.

It was his. The only thing that was truly his. No one could take this away from him.

Not anyone.

* * *

Sometimes Rex wondered about the galaxy and all the sentients that lived in it. He wondered about the unwritten rules that governed the people that lived there.

He wished he could understand those rules, because so many had never made sense to him. There were rules about who you could talk to, who was worthy of your time and even who you could love. These were all rules that everyone else seemed to understand.

And he didn't: because no one had ever explained them.

No one had ever told him before about soulmates.

Nine years he'd lived in this galaxy and he hadn't _known_. He'd only found out one day when he'd been in a GAR planning meeting, listening as Cody and Kenobi and Anakin had argued over their approach to a new battlefield.

Anakin had made a very pointed criticism against one of Kenobi's ideas. Instead of getting upset or tearing down Anakin's criticism, Kenobi had just stood there for a few minutes, quietly stroking his beard. As he had done so, his sleeve had slipped down exposing his wrist—his very scarred wrist. The marks were thick and bone-white and jarring against his freckled skin.

Rex had seen a scar in that spot before, not quite in that shape or strange discolouration, but he'd seen it in that spot on a brother who'd tried to take his own life during basic training. The _vod_ had been unable to keep up. His brother hadn't been unable to meet the Kaminoans' harsh expectations. Everyone on the squad had known their _vod_ wasn't cutting it and had tried to help their brother hide his failures so he wouldn't be culled like all those other brothers who hadn’t met expectations. Then one morning, they'd all woken up to find 7142 in the shower room, bleeding from his wrists.

They'd bound up his wrists and taken better care of their _vod_ after that. Rex had even run a few obstacle courses in his brother's place and in his brother's armour so as to fool the Kaminoans. Luckily, It had worked. They'd stopped looking so closely at 7142 and he'd graduated along with the rest of them. Last Rex had heard, 7142 had been assigned to the 41st Elite Corps under Commander Gree and was doing quite well.

So he saw those scars on Kenobi and worried. Those scars on his vod, had been a cry for help, a yearning for companionship and assistance. So if Kenobi had those scars, was he hurting and needed the love and support of his family?

Rex resolved to ask Ahsoka later.

* * *

It took a while to find the right time to bring it up. But when he finally did, he got an answer he wasn't expecting...

During the night cycle of the ship, patrols were halved while they were in hyperspace and lights were turned down low to allow the _Vod'e_ something as close to a day/night cycle as possible.

Ahsoka was meditating in one of the few places where it was almost guaranteed to be free of interruptions at this time of night: the officer's gym. The room was rarely used as it was, since Rex, Commander Appo, Captain Hedge and most of the 501st's Lieutenants preferred to exercise with the rest of their _vod_.

“What is it, Rex?” Ahsoka peeked one eye open.

In stuttering awkwardness, Rex slowly explained his suspicions to the 16-year-old padawan.

“Oh,” she said in surprise, then her face crinkled into wounded empathy. “Rex, those scars aren't from Master Obi-Wan hurting himself.”

“They aren't?” Rex asked, a bit confused.

“They're his soulmark,” she said slowly, her own face morphing into similar confusion at his misunderstanding.

Rex blinked.

“Rex, everyone has a soulmate. When they meet them face-to-face, their soulmate’s name emerges on their skin,” she explained slowly. “Surely you know about soulmates?”

Rex shook his head, trying to get his mind around the idea of a soulmate.

“Almost everyone in the galaxy has one. Most meet their soulmate within the first ten years of their life. It's exceedingly rare and unusual to meet your soulmate after your second decade.”

“So, I have a soulmate?”

Ahsoka nodded. “Yes, you should. You probably just haven't met them yet.”

“How will I know when I've met them?”

“It kind of burns a bit when the name appears.”

“How do you know that?” Rex asked curiously.

Ahsoka smiled and slipped the edge of her left shoulder strap to the side. The name Barriss was written in a sweeping calligraphy. It was dark green and pressed out from the skin, almost like a tattoo that was raised.

“I thought you and Padawan Barriss were just friends?” Rex inquired, a bit dazed. Rex had seen the two of them together. They had seemed very close. They obviously had deep feelings between them, but Rex had thought it had been friendship or sisterhood. Their relationship had reminded him of his and Cody's close bond.

“Not all soulmates are romantic,” she smiled up at him. “It depends on the person. I'm generally not a romantic person and Barriss doesn't feel physical attraction. What we have works, and I love her dearly for her place in my life.”

“Oh,” Rex said quietly, brain spinning with the idea that there could be someone out there just for him.

Ahsoka got up and stretched, heading to the door, obviously done with her meditations.

“Wait,” Rex stopped her. “But if those scars aren't from hurting himself, why does General Kenobi's soulmate's name look scarred like that?”

She turned her head, her brows furrowed in sadness. “When a soulmate dies, the soulmark burns out of your skin. Master Obi-Wan lost his soulmate tragically not long after meeting Master Anakin. I'm sure it hurt him and not just physically.”

“So wouldn't it be better to _not_ know your soulmate, than to find them and lose them?” Rex asked, bewildered at the idea of loving someone so deeply and then losing them.

“I don't know.” She just shook her head and left the room.

* * *

Over the next six months, Rex thought often about the conversation he'd had with Ahsoka.

He wondered if a soulmate was worth it when he watched as Barriss' betrayal tore their love apart and forced them both away from their family, friends and culture.

He watched as his brothers—who had found their soulmates amongst the _Vod’e_ —who died on the battlefield, and their other halves who withered and cried and suffered with them gone. He watched as Anakin grew spiteful and angry and hateful being parted from his soulmate. And he thought: maybe knowing your soulmate wasn't worth the pain you might feel.

And so Rex was glad—glad he'd never met his soulmate.

As long as he didn't, no one could ever make him suffer through that heartbreak.

* * *

Sundari was under their control.

The vod'e had done what had been required of them. The city was safe.

Now it was up to Ahsoka and Rex to find Maul in the sewers and flush him and the last of Death Watch out.

Rex would make sure to take his best men with them.

They _would_ free this system.

Nothing could stop them.

* * *

The rest of his squad had fallen behind. Rex had no idea where Ahsoka had gotten to, and he didn't care.

In front of him stood Maul, tall and angry and proud, his black and red tattoos blazing through the shadows of the sewers.

A shiver went down Rex's spine. A patch of skin on his lower neck began to burn, and Rex just knew.

He knew that Maul was his soulmate. And he wanted him close, wanted him near, wanted to hold him and never let go.

A feeling grew through his gut: powerful, deep and yearning. Rex thought he'd known what love was, but that had been shallow, weak and colorless compared to this.

 _Ka'ra_ , the other man was beautiful.

Rex took a hesitant step towards him—towards this chaotic creature that was _Rex’s_.

It wasn't better to have never known your soulmate. He would give up _anything_ for this man.

No one would take Maul away from him.

No one.

* * *

Maul stroked his fingers down Rex's stubbly cheek, cuddled against the man in the bunk of the tiny ship they'd stolen.

Rex was _his_ , like nothing he'd ever had before.

Rex was strong and just and beautiful and _**Maul’s**_.

Maul purred deep in his throat.

No one could take this away from him.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> <3<3<3  
> Love to hear your wonderful thoughts!


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